Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Several new community cases announced in Papatoetoe cluster, Wellington City Council fallout continues, and new child poverty stats released. Several new community cases were announced in the Papatoetoe cluster yesterday, but at this stage the alert level appears to be staying at one. Our live updates has details … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Several new community cases announced in Papatoetoe cluster, Wellington City Council fallout continues, and new child poverty stats released. Several new community cases were announced in the Papatoetoe cluster yesterday, but at this stage the alert level appears to be staying at one. Our live updates has details … Read more
More infectious variants of Covid-19 are increasingly being intercepted at the country’s borders, but the minister running New Zealand’s response is resisting pressure to accelerate vaccination plans despite demands from health experts as well as political friends and foes, Justin Giovannetti reports. New Zealand’s first Covid-19 jabs will be administered in April to border workers … Read more
While New Zealand has been on holiday, Covid-19 has gotten much worse beyond our borders. Justin Giovannetti looks at the global situation and what we can expect in the year to come. It’s a new year, but the world remains locked in a very familiar crisis. Despite encouraging vaccine developments before Christmas, Covid’s spread has … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Swag of briefings to incoming ministers released, government outlines summer Covid resurgence plan, and Port Hills fire comes amid scorching week. A whole lot of papers around the end of one term of government and the start of the next have been released. The briefings to … Read more
More than two months ago, an urgent review of New Zealand’s Covid-19 testing system was delivered to the government as the country’s largest coronavirus cluster burned through Auckland. It still hasn’t been made public. New Zealand’s confidence in its Covid-19 border defences was at a low ebb in August as a cluster of cases in … Read more
Donald Trump has promised it’ll be free. So has Justin Trudeau. But the New Zealand government hasn’t yet decided whether we’ll have to pay for a Covid-19 vaccine. There’s a glimmer of hope in recent announcements from drugmakers Moderna and Pfizer that their vaccines are highly effective at preventing Covid-19 – but the pandemic’s end … Read more
The masks are coming. New Zealand’s hard and early response to Covid-19 is finally adopting widespread mask use outside of lockdown. Justin Giovannetti writes about what changed in the halls of parliament to make it happen. Masks will become mandatory on Auckland transit and domestic flights next week following months of criticism by leading epidemiologists … Read more
We knew Labour would be the government before the specials came in, but what’s changed in the final result? Alex Braae picks out some fun details. Read more: The special votes are in and it’s bad news for the cannabis referendum, and National 1) Chris Hipkins loses title of the largest electorate majority Education and … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Rugby world gets fired up at government over tournament loss, cabinet to make new alert level decision today, and police commended for not arresting protesters. The weekend saw an interesting event in the cultural history of this country: The government had a clear opportunity to try … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Labour unveils deeply conservative tax policy, concerning new information given about the Mt Roskill church cluster, and Electoral Commission investigating use of donations by NZ Public Party. For those wondering if we’d see anything vaguely resembling socialism or transformation in Labour’s new tax policy, the … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Alert level one still a long way away, parliament once again closes for the term, and thousands of primary health workers to strike today. Alert level one could still be a long way away, according to the country’s top health official. Dr Ashley Bloomfield fronted the … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Green school controversy drags on for James Shaw, head of volunteer firefighters association being investigated, and wharfies speak out after worker death. I’ll be honest, I really thought this story would be basically wrapped up by the weekend. And yet somehow it’s Wednesday, and it’s still … Read more
As Auckland faced the resurgence of coronavirus, misinformation proliferated, and a lot of people encountered it, according to the latest Stickybeak poll for The Spinoff. Plus: What is Facebook’s impact on NZ society? With a third of New Zealand under alert level three lockdown, recent weeks have seen false claims around the source of the … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Government under real pressure over testing system, thousands currently behind on mortgages, and a remarkable interview about that vile managed isolation rumour. The question of testing dominated exchanges in parliament yesterday, with the government under pressure to account for the managed isolation systems. As the NZ Herald reports, … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Questions over testing of border workers, decision on delaying election to be made today, and concerns for educational progress with new lockdown. The first point to note about managed isolation facilities – we don’t necessarily know that was where this latest outbreak came from. Alternative theories … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Bailout to stave off crisis in international education sector, return flight bookings freeze extended again, and man selling bleach as Covid cure raided. If it wasn’t already on the cards, the international education sector got a clear message that students would be unlikely to return … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Changes coming in managed isolation after 2nd escape, Hamish Walker’s political career over, and expert advice released ahead of cannabis referendum. Changes are being made to the way managed isolation facilities are run, after it emerged that a resident went for a wander around Auckland – and … Read more
A man in an Auckland managed-isolation facility decided he’d like to slip through the hotel fence and get some groceries. Justin Giovannetti on what we know about his ill-advised adventure. He’d been back in New Zealand for four days and staying in the heart of Auckland, with the roar of Albert Street below. On Tuesday … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Problems looming for temporary visa holders, state house waiting list balloons again, and US ban could hit NZ seafood exports. There are some real problems looming for temporary visa holders and their employers, with thousands set to expire all once, reports Nona Pelletier for Radio NZ. Automatic … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. Clark out and Bridges back in, Chinese embassy warns NZ politicians to not speak out on Hong Kong, and terrible new revelations about Oranga Tamariki culture. It has been a day of reshuffling at parliament, with both major parties making significant moves. We’ll start with Labour, because theirs involves … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Auditor general to investigate PPE supply, NZ man dies in Peru reportedly after testing positive for Covid-19, and government criticised over lack of small business analysis. The auditor-general will investigate the health ministry’s handling and distribution of personal protective equipment, after weeks of health worker concerns … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Big changes coming for how schools are run, highly anticipated OCR decision coming today, and a clear-eyed look at the protests up Ōwairaka/Mt Albert. The government has set up a fight with a dangerous political constituency – highly involved parents at affluent schools. That’s putting it facetiously … Read more
The government’s reform of 1989’s Tomorrow’s Schools legislation has been announced today, and it’s promising changes for students, teachers, principals and boards. What is “Tomorrow’s Schools”? In 1989, the government introduced the Tomorrow’s Schools reforms, which meant all schools became much more independent, giving Boards power over almost all school decisions, including those to hire … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Early childhood educators plan action to raise pay, many councils reporting low election turnout, and Defence Industry forum cancelled. A new phase of industrial action in the education sector looms, with early childhood teachers calling for a huge pay jolt. Radio NZ reports it was one of … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Regional alarm at polytech centralisation plans, Pfizer confirms vaccines for Northland were available, and BNZ facing scrutiny after massive document leak. Alarm has been sounded in the regions about the confirmation of the government’s industry training centralisation plans. It has been confirmed that all 16 institutes … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Union to take legal action against Novopay, building site sediment damaging waterways, and the govt’s road safety strategy explained. Teachers are taking legal action against Novopay, amidst the news their payrise won’t come in for another two months, reports Newshub. The one-off $1500 bonus promised to teachers … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: What to watch for on Budget day, education minister gets brutal heckling from teachers, and Wellington mayor throws support behind trackless trams. “Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” So goes the quote often attributed to former … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Every teacher in the country to strike together, concerns over funding-starved Māori sector, and two big stories on the rubbish beat from the weekend. The timing couldn’t be more stark. The day before the government delivers their first ‘wellbeing budget’, every primary and secondary school teacher in … Read more